ST Graveyard Review
24th November 2002
Author: Matthias Arndt |
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Lethal Xcess
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Introduction
I got a really nice surprise in my mailbox. We have a special guest reviewer
today. Matthias Arndt (of Pompey Pirates Archive fame) gave the classic "Lethal
Xcess" a look. He discusses the technical details behind this great
piece of gaming software, so make sure to check it out!
Maarten Martens (webmaster
of ST Graveyard)
Review by Matthias Arndt, November 24 2002
Comments
Lethal Xcess is also known as "Wings of Death 2".
Technically it is an improved version of Wings
of Death with even better effects. The game idea is the good ole
vertical scrolling shoot'em up with loads of enemies to shoot at and
goodies to collect. This is the holy grail of Atari ST shoot'em up games!
The impressive loading screen is just a preview of the things to come! |
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The loading screen |
Graphics
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This game has very well drawn graphics. It takes advantage
of raster effects to display more than 16 colours on screen. This can be
seen in the main menu of the game. |
The main menu |
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Lethal Xcess uses overscan techniques to display the
playfield allowing the ST to display 256 raster lines instead of 200. One
of the few games for the ST that actually takes advantage of the tricks
which were developed by demo coders. The playfields are well drawn and
colourful, consisting of many tiles giving variety to the background. |
The game screen |
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The game engine is very well written. It won't slow down
when rendering lots of huge sprites. 96 pixel wide sprites will move
smooth, fast and well animated over your screen! Sometimes you'll even
think that they won't leave any place free on the screen for your ship. |
Huge sprites move smooth and flickerfree all over the screen. |
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Sound
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This game features some of the finest sound effects and
muzaks on the ST. Jochen Hippel (aka Mad Max) was in charge. A different
tune per level, sampled sound effects and speech snippets make a fine
audio experience for ST standards! |
This is the first level. The game starts really hot. This won't be an easy trip! |
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Gameplay
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Shooting whole formations of enemies will reveal extra pods
which you can collect to upgrade your ship. There are 5 different weapons
which can be upgraded by simply collecting the same pod again. Extra
energy, smart bombs and an evil skull extra which will reset your current
weapon to the weakest version add variety to the game. |
As in all decent shoot'em up games, there are lots of extras to collect. |
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The game features really hard and fast action on screen.
Many colourful sprites and shots move smoothly over the screen. Some of
the enemies will even home in on your ship trying to crash into you. |
Lots of enemies make life hard and short! |
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Lethal Xcess has a two player mode. Each player has his own
ship. Even the types of the ships are different making it easier to spot
your ship. A nice blast together with a friend! |
2 players blasting their way through! |
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Conclusion
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This is a true classic showing what the ST is capable of.
The game itself is hard and frustrating (I never ever managed to reach the
boss of Level 1.) But the effects and technical brilliance of this game
make it a winner! Check out the homepage by the original programmers
at http://lethalxcess.atari.org/. |
Any decent game should have a highscore table for you to sign. |
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Score
Graphics |
10/10 |
Sound |
10/10 |
Gameplay |
7/10 |
Overall |
9/10 |
If you have any comments or like to contribute to this review, make sure to
contact Matthias.
©2002 "ST Graveyard". All rights reserved
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